K, I’ve been doing a replay of GTAs III, VC, and SA, as i one bought the iOS 3-pack once upon a time ago. I never had a PS 2 because my brother had one and I hated him, but I remember many hundreds of hours of running over hookers when I have a booze and coke phase about 20 years ago… and lived in Florida. It made sense, and that game was fun as fuck!
Well, I just beat it for real (actually playing the game, not just engaging in a bloodbath), and I tried to play GTA 3. Wow. That game is shit compared to VC. Storylines, gameplay, missions, etc. GTA III blows compared to VC.
I’m moving on to San Andreas, hoping it will be better.
I wasn’t big on it at release, but a lot of people were. In hindsight, there was still too much of the earlier DNA in the game: a lot of people just talking at you, and otherwise mostly a focus on driving around and shooting things. It wasn’t engaging enough for someone like me that mostly played RPGs.
The move to 3D was impressive, though, and a necessary step for not just the series but a lot of games of the generation. Now that they had a big hit, they were able to take big swings by bringing in Ray Liotta and all the elements to make an amazing period piece with Vice City.